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living with dying

Data and the Case for Death with Dignity Laws

posted by Melissa Barber on July 22, 2010

As the debate over physician-assisted death heats up worldwide, I have been pleased to hear the 12 years of data from Oregon's Death with Dignity Act mentioned when people make the case for clear and concise Death with Dignity laws with appropriate safeguards. In the UK recently, Oregon's voter-approved law was cited multiple times during The Royal Society of Medicine's conference on hastened death. And for good reason.

As Lord Joffe, a member of The Royal Society of Medicine, argued, "[Oregon’s law] has only led to about 0.2%, which is 60 deaths out of 30,000 deaths in Oregon each year. There's been no slippery slope or any proposal to extend the legislation to include voluntary euthanasia. Palliative care has not been undermined but has flourished. And there's no credible evidence of abuse of any vulnerable members of society. This is after 12 years." By comparison, accidents account for 1,200 per 30,000 deaths in Oregon each year.

All in all, only 460 people have hastened their deaths with Oregon's Death with Dignity Act in the last 12 years. This is a very small group when you consider over 360,000 people passed away in Oregon during the same time period. These numbers are consistent with studies of Oregon's law including a multi-year study published in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 2007 which found no evidence of a slippery slope or heightened risk for vulnerable groups.

Oregon's data played a key role when we helped pass Washington's Death with Dignity Law in 2008, and Washington's 2009 numbers follow the same trend. The numbers don't lie. Well crafted Death with Dignity laws work the way they were intended allowing patients to make informed decisions and live life with dignity.

Posted on July 22, 2010 in FAQ.

Comments

Posted by BOISVERT, mARCEL on Monday, July 26 at 08:44 a.m.

As a retired Canadian Pall.care physician, I salute your work and cite it often with one restriction: I find it difficult to accept the giving a Rx for a lethal drug and not give assurance to the patient that I will be available should that be his/her choice.
Posted by Melissa on Monday, July 26 at 10:38 a.m.

Thank you so much for your support, Marcel, and for all your hard work as a palliative care physician. We couldn't agree with you more about the importance of a healthy and comforting patient-doctor relationship -- especially in end-of-life care.

To that end the Oregon and Washington Death with Dignity laws allow for patients to choose to have their prescribing physicians and other health-care providers with them when the medication is ingested and through the time of death. Since 2001, 83% of the Oregon patients' health-care providers were present when they took the medication. While a health-care provider can be by their patient's side, their patient must self-administer the medication.

Your attentive care as a palliative care physician must have been a comfort beyond words to your patients and their families through those difficult times. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts.
Posted by Mark Lawrence on Tuesday, August 10 at 01:10 a.m.

The Parliament in South Australia is considering legislation of this type. Is anyone aware of an international study of rates of death by VE across the jurisdictions that have regulated it?
Posted by Seymour Ross on Wednesday, November 03 at 06:22 a.m.

Have you encountered cases when the patient cannot self-administer the medication.

Could you consider a letter signed by the patient stating that their spouse can make the decision and have several witnes's to sign the letter.
Posted by Melissa on Friday, November 05 at 09:45 a.m.

We've not encountered such a case in Oregon or Washington since self-administering the medication is part of these states' Death with Dignity laws.

Thanks,
Melissa

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